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REALTOR®: Bay Area Home Sales and Median Price Rise As More High-end Homes Sell

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The median price paid for a Bay Area home jumped in May as more expensive homes started to sell again. The overall number of homes sold increased for the ninth month in a row, a real estate information service reported.

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county region rose to $341,500, up 12.3 percent from $304,000 in April, but still down 33.9 percent from $517,000 in May 2008, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.

The median's rise over April marked the second consecutive month-to-month increase. Although last month's median was 17.8 percent higher than the current cycle's low of $290,000 in March this year, it was still 48.6 percent below the peak $665,000 median reached in June and July of 2007.

The DataQuick reports states last month's $37,500 jump from April was due to a small but noticeable increase in sales of homes financed with home loans for more than $417,000, commonly called "jumbo" mortgages. They accounted for 25.5 percent of the Bay Area's home sales last month, the highest since 25.8 percent last October. Two years ago it was more than 60 percent. The presence of those high-end sales in the statistics pulled the May median up.

Julia Truesdale Keady, president of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®, said in the Silicon Valley region, inventory is dropping and local REALTORS® are seeing multiple offers in the lower priced homes, but the higher end market has also picked up.

"Homes that are well-priced in the higher price ranges have also been selling. We are seeing more buyers making a move. Many are no longer sitting on the fence," Keady said.

Sales of $800,000-plus existing single-family houses rose to 13.2 percent of all house resales last month, up from 9.8 percent in April and the highest since they were 14.8 percent of sales last October. Sales of sub-$400,000 existing houses dropped to 57.5 percent of May sales, down from 62.2 percent in April and the lowest since 56.5 percent in November.

A total of 7,447 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 4.3 percent from 7,139 in April and up 19.8 percent from 6,216 in May 2008.

The use of government-insured FHA loans – a common choice among first-time buyers – represented a 24.5 percent of all Bay Area purchase loans in May, down slightly from a record of 26 percent in April but up from 7.3 percent a year ago.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,443 last month, up from $1,281 the previous month, and down from $2,458 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 44.6 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 59 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.


The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.

The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.

For further information, please contact Rose Meily at SILVAR Public Affairs, email , or phone (408) 200-0109.

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